Global Instant Capacity Grouping Rules

Global Instant Capacity is built on the concept of a server group, or GiCAP group. The group consists of a list of server complexes that are allowed to share Instant Capacity usage rights (for cores, cell boards, and memory) and temporary capacity. There are no particular constraints on the number of servers allowed to be in a group, but there are grouping rules defined by HP to specify the types of servers allowed to group together.

Grouping rules are defined based on server class. The price structure of usage rights is also based on server class. Since GiCAP pools usage rights, they can be used on any type of server regardless of the server class for which they were originally purchased. Therefore, grouping rules were created to define the classes of servers allowed to share usage rights.

Default grouping rules are provided with the Instant Capacity software. You can use the icapmanage -R command to view the hardware grouping information. When used in combination with a list of host names, it reports all hardware types with which the hosts might be grouped. If the hosts are not compatible with each other, no hardware will be reported. Without a list of host names, it will report all supported hardware and grouping rules.

Under some circumstances you may need to acquire newer grouping rules from the portal (for example, when adding new hardware not previously covered by the grouping rules currently in use). You install the encrypted rules file on the Group Manager system using the icapmanage -i command.

The following example installs a grouping rules file, retrieved from the portal, on the Group Manager system: